Do you need to bell case mouths on handguns

[crestoncowboy]

how can you expand without belling.

edit: Never mind I see what youre saying but the expander part only does about 1/3 of the casing on the 460 anyway, I just unscrewed it and looked. I may shoot up a bunch of my hornady rounds and see if expanding helps with the case crushing. like I said in my original post, I am new to handgun reloading.

 

[MickKennedy29]

I agree with needing to expand on a properly sized case. In auto loaders the case neck tension keeps the bullets in place. In a heavy revolver round you need both good neck tension and a healthy roll crimp. I would be afraid of bullet movement affecting pressure, which would negatively affect accuracy at best, without both tension and crimp keeping the bullets secure. If you are able to seat a bullet without expanding or belling AT ALL then I would check the bullet size, case dimensions, and my size die to make sure they are all the right size. It may just be that I am not familiar with the caliber you are loading, which I am not, but having loaded other heavy revolver rounds that has been my experience.

 

[floydster]

I slightly bell all my pistol brass, no matter what type bullet.

 

[Hondo 60]

I'm with the others.

I DO bell my brass slightly, with lead, plated & jacketed.

 

[buck460XVR]

I find this thread curious. I reload .460 and .44 mag. I use RCBS Carbide dies. Altho I do not use them exclusively, I do load both calibers with XTPs. 240gr and 300gr XTP-Mags in the .460 and 240gr XTP-HPs in .44mag. I have loaded thousand of rounds of each using Starline brass and have had to bell every one. Without belling I cannot even begin to get the bullet started, much less seat without buckling the case. Sometimes(especially with Hornady brass) I will buckle the case because, altho I did bell the case, I did not bell it enough. With my reloads in each caliber, you can clearly see the seated depth of the bullet because of the neck tension. I've found neck tension is as important for consistent ignition and resistance to jumping under recoil as crimp. If crestoncowboy is able to seat his XTPs without belling, I'd be concerned about lack of neck tension.

 

[crestoncowboy]

That is why I started not belling, because I couldnt put enough crimp to keep the bullets at the right c.o.l. I have been expanding but not belling. Anyway I expanded and put a slight bell on them to see if I can get them to stay put. I bought all the starline brass new and I have reloaded probably 50 or more twice with no belling.
BTW buck460xvr since you are the only one who has reloaded for this caliber do you load strictly by the hornady manual. I have been loading to the exact c.o.l.
Also have you tried the lee crimp die, a lot of people have recommended trying one for the 460.

 

[buck460XVR]

Don't know how you can ''expand" without "belling". It's one and the same.

crestoncowboy...I load by many different load manuals. The Hodgdon web site has loads listed also for XTP bullets altho their recipes are a bit stouter than Hornadys. As with any Jacketed revolver bullet, I seat so that I can crimp into the center of the cannelure. COL is not that important as long as case capacity is not compromised more than what you can adjust for and the cartridges fit within the cylinder. As for the Lee FCD, some folks swear by them, but I have yet to see a need.

 

[243winxb]

Yes, you need to bell case mouths on handguns

I crushed probably 10 percent of those so I just threw them all away.

This is why you need to bell. If your FL sizer is working correctly, before expanding, the mouth should be well under bullet diameter. The expander should be .004" under bullet diameter. Belling has nothing to do with neck tension/bullet pull as the crimper removes it. If the expander does not inlarge the case after its use, the FL sizer in not doing its job OR the brass has thin walls.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

come to think back on it

Since occasionally ejection can leave dents on case mouths, I have used a chamfering tool to put a slight bevel on the inside of the mouth (if the tool for belling did not remove the dents or sharp edges after neck sizing).

 

[crestoncowboy]

The expander is doing its job I just dont screw the expander down far enough to hit the step up where it actually bells out the case mouth. Which is what i meant by I expand but not bell buck460xvr.

Anyway thanks to everyone for the information I guess I will continue to expand and may run the expander down and play with belling a little.

 

[exavid]

I mostly load 9mm and .380 and always bell a bit just to make it easier to sit a bullet on the case in my Lee turret press after resizing. When loading Berry's plated bullets in my SR9 I use a just a little extra crimp, just enough to show on a bullet base. If I go any lighter I've had some bullets move slightly into the shell in the magazine.